Gonzalez has 2 HRs among 5 hits, Rockies beat Cubs

CHICAGO – Carlos Gonzalez homered twice and finished with a career-high five hits to lead the struggling Colorado Rockies to a 9-4 victory over the Chicago Cubs on Tuesday night.

Gonzalez was 5 for 5 and fell a triple shy of a cycle, and Eric Young Jr. also homered for the Rockies, who had lost five of their last six. Colorado had scored 12 runs in those games, including eight Sunday at St. Louis.

Gonzalez became the first Rockies player to have five hits since Miguel Olivo on May 12, 2010.

Colorado increased its lead to 5-0 in the third when Gonzalez hit his eighth of the season deep into the right-field bleachers. His home run in the ninth put the Rockies up 8-3 and gave him nine multi-home run games in his career.

Jeff Francis (2-3), winless since April 5, pitched six innings and gave up one run in three hits while striking out seven. After winning his first start, Francis was 0-3 with an 8.25 ERA over his next six outings.

Carlos Villanueva (1-3) allowed six runs and 12 hits — including seven for extra bases — in five innings for the Cubs. He is winless since April 18 and has allowed 18 earned runs in his last four starts after giving up five in his first four.

The Cubs snapped a three-game winning streak and haven't won four straight since last Sept. 7-10.

Colorado was in danger of falling to one game above .500 for the first time since April 10, but jumped on Villanueva quickly.

The Rockies took a 1-0 lead in the first on Gonzalez's RBI single, driving in Young who led off with a double.

Colorado scored three in the second, capped off by Young's two-out, two-run home run. It was Young's first homer of the season and landed atop the canopy in straightaway center field. Francis had a sacrifice fly that brought in Nolan Arenado.

The Rockies could have had more in the inning, but Alfonso Soriano threw out Todd Helton at home for the first out after a single by Josh Rutledge.

The Rockies added two more runs in the fifth on an RBI double by Troy Tulowitzki and run-scoring single from Helton. Colorado had three doubles to start the inning, including one from Dexter Fowler who was thrown out trying to stretch it into a triple.

Tulowitzki had three hits while Young, Helton, and Arenado had two apiece for the Rockies. Their 17 hits matched a season-high allowed by the Cubs.

Francis took a shutout into the fifth before Darwin Barney homered with two outs. Barney had three hits and two RBIs.

The Cubs scored two unearned runs in the eighth, first when reliever Edgmer Escalona fielded Anthony Rizzo's grounder but threw the ball into center field, allowing David DeJesus to score. Arenado then made a diving play on Soriano's grounder, but Starlin Castro came home to cut the Colorado lead to 7-3.

Colorado hasn't won a three-game series at Wrigley Field since Sept. 29-Oct. 1, 2006, when the Rockies took two of three.

NOTES: Roy Oswalt threw 64 pitches in an extended spring training start for the Rockies. He is scheduled to pitch again Saturday, and if that start goes well he is expected to join Double-A Tulsa. ... Chicago's Matt Garza, who hasn't pitched in the majors this season after straining a lat during spring training, is expected to make a rehab start Thursday for Triple-A Iowa. Following that outing, he and the team will decide if he'll come back. Cubs manager Dale Sveum didn't rule out going to a six-man rotation when Garza does come back. ... Rockies manager Walt Weiss said there hasn't been a decision made on whether Juan Nicasio will take his next start in the rotation. ... Cubs 3B Luis Valbuena was out of the lineup for the third straight day after suffering a jammed right pinky finger Saturday in Washington. Sveum said Valbuena will be in the lineup Wednesday in the finale of the three-game series. ... Wednesday's pitching matchup is Colorado's Jon Garland (3-3, 4.83) against the Cubs' Jeff Samardzija (1-5, 3.70).